World’s first fuel-free sail-solar ship

A small sail-solar ship specially designed to be used by developing countries will be built in Bangladesh and launched early next year. The ship, said to be the world’s first fuel-free, container-ready commercial vessel, is being constructed by Greenheart, an international non-profit organisation based in Japan and Europe.

The ship, S/V Greenheart, will be designed as an ocean-going hybrid that uses a combination of traditional sail and solar power. According to its constructors, it will produce no emissions and will be simple to use and maintain, and extremely economical, thus well-suited to use in developing countries. With a shallow enough draft, the ship can also load and unload cargo directly from a beach where there is no port. The plan is for hundreds of these vessels to be owned and operated by the people and communities they serve.